Schrodinger's Effect
by Magi Silverwolf
Summary: Faced with nothing left to live for, Luna makes a decision, one that will change the lives of everyone about her. She decides to go back in time in an attempt to save those she's lost. That's the drop in the pool. All else is but ripples.
1. Prologue: The Empty Tower

Schrodinger's Effect

Disclaimer: I do not own the original canon nor am I making any profit from writing this piece. All works are accredited to their original authors, performers, and producers while this piece is mine. No copyright infringement is intended. I acknowledge that all views and opinions expressed herein are merely my interpretations of the characters and situations found within the original canon and may not reflect the views and opinions of the original author(s), producer(s), and slash or other people.

Warnings: This story may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences and may offend some readers.

Reviews: Flames are funny. Bullying is not, and will be reported. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

* * *

Prologue: The Empty Tower

_It's funny how silence can be so loud._

_After my beloved Dione had died, it had been silent here in the Rookery for weeks. The brief moments when Luna and I would exchange a few lines that even now in memory seem like they would easily fit in a muggle primary play…they didn't do anything to really relieve it, but they were a damned sight better than what I've got now. Dione's grandmother, Phoebe, had shattered that silence that lingered with her usual…flair…There's no hope of a repeat performance. Phoebe passed away during Luna's third year due to a nasty case of Dragon Pox._

_That's the crux of my problem, you see._

_There's no hope._

_Dione was stolen from me by the cruel mistress she served –that hard task manager of New Magic. I held on for my daughter, bright little Luna…Phoebe may have put me back together for her, but it was Luna's need for her father that kept me that way. My brilliant Luna, so brave in the light of everything, all the Darkness that the world has to offer. __**They**__ took her, the bastards. They stole my little girl right off the Hogwarts Express as she made her way from the warzone of Hogwarts back to the safety of our home._

_Why did they, you ask?_

_They wanted me to not print the Truth, of course. The Dark Lord didn't want the Light side to have any possibility of a rallying point and Truth had a way of mobilizing people, a way of propelling them down the path of what is right and not easy. I cannot say that I was strong enough to remember that as I faced down the knowledge that my precious and beloved Luna was …somewhere…Oh, sweet Goddess, I don't even know where she was hidden._

_What changed, you ask?_

_Harry Potter. What else? I met him…in my living room. There's this aura about him, you see…he doesn't expect anything, and by that very act of obliviousness, he shows one the Truth of their actions. Like a mirror that reflects only what you present to it, he propels you to look at yourself._

_I could not, ultimately, face the image of myself I saw in his eyes the moment that he realized that I had sacrificed my principles and the only hope that Britannica, and perhaps, even the world, had…just on the off chance that they would do as they say and release my daughter to me. I am no longer a man of which my daughter can be proud. And I must face certain unpleasant facts about my situation._

_They've had Luna for two months and three days now. I have no proof of her state of wellbeing. I do have proof that her captors are cruel, heartless brutes who should not be allowed around Knockturn Alley whores, let alone a young witch barely of age. They've done this before, this disappearing act with loved ones. To date, none have been returned except in pieces or as corpses._

_My Luna…my moonbeam…my brave, sweet, brilliant girl…she is gone._

_And all that is left is the silence of an empty home._

_I am going to the Ministry to inquire with the Snatchers one last time. I will not be shunted away this time. Should that happen, I will do what any man, what any __**father**_ _would do. I will take out as many of them as I can before they stop me. I updated my will with the Goblins, even though it still includes my Luna. Harry Potter has worked miracles before. Perhaps…perhaps he'll do the impossible once more and free my Luna from her prison, wherever she be._

_But I must be the role model that my daughter would need. So this is my final publication, my little farewell to the world._

_And to the silence that haunts me._

_Xenophilius Lovegood_

_Quibbler Editor in Chief_

=[=]=

Luna let the letter fall from her now-trembling hands. It fluttered to the ground like a feather. Suddenly her knees felt as strong as a cooked noodle. They crumpled beneath her. She shivered despite the May heat as she struggled with the enormous concept placed before her by those little purple words written in her father's hand. She had been expecting…They had won. Tears stung her eyes. _They had won_. But she was alone.

In the silence.

She felt it building in the back of her throat, threatening to choke her. She swallowed hard in an attempt to dislodge it. It hadn't helped when she watched the spell backfire and kill her mother before her very eyes. Nor did it ever help with the nightmares that followed. But the pain in her chest just kept compressing, pushing up the scream. When it finally came, it was like a banshee's wail. It hurt, oh Goddess, how it hurt. It was like all the pain in the world had been stabbed right into the very body of her soul. She screamed again, hoping against hope that there would be something…some relief from the excoriating torture of the knowledge that _they had won_ but much too late for the Lovegood family.

The silence mocked her, almost deafeningly loud with its emptiness.

They had won.

But she had lost.

Everything.


	2. Chapter One: Haunted

=[=]=

**Part One: Beginning of the Impossible**

=[=]=

**Chapter One: Haunted**

Neville noticed her first.

Admittedly, Harry had the great excuse of being busy disappointing the two rather lovely birds who were trying to coax him onto the dance floor of the pub they were currently visiting. If Neville had been Ron, perhaps he would have been jealous of being overlooked like this whenever they went out, but Neville was comfortable playing second violin to Harry. It wasn't just a matter of him being the Boy-Who-Lived—which didn't matter here in a muggle bar anyroad. Harry had an air about him that made girls swoon, even when he didn't say anything to them first. Neville stifled a chuckle at the flummoxed look on his friend's face as one of the women whispered in his ear. He turned away to keep from laughing outright and that's when he saw Luna's pale form at a booth in the corner.

She did not look good. He could tell from their place at the bar. Any humor he felt at Harry's predicament disappeared. No one had seen or heard from Luna since the Final Battle. Neville turned back to Harry and patted his arm.

"Luna, mate," Neville stated. It was a testament to the recent war that Harry instantly grew serious at his tone and sent the women on their way in a brisker manner than strictly needed making them huff at the very real brush off. Harry made a motion towards where Neville knew he had stashed his wand. Neville shook his head before jerking it towards the Ravenclaw's booth. Harry took one look and was on his feet. As one, they moved through the crowded pub towards their wayward friend.

"Hey, Luna," Harry greeted as he slid in beside the tow-headed witch. Luna blinked at him before a dreamy smile graced her chapped lips. Her grayish-blue eyes were bloodshot and she had gin-roses on both her cheeks. She shook her head as if she was silently laughing at them. Neville's sense of wrongness grew. He knew that look far too well from this last year at Hogwarts. He had seen her after one of the Carrows had gotten a hold of her—this was very close to that.

"Horses prefer beer, Harry," Luna replied flippantly and with more than little slurring. She took a gulp of her drink and giggled. Then she walked her fingers up Harry's arm before grabbing a fistful of his shirt and pulling him down for a quick peck on the lips which she followed with an equally quick swipe of her tongue. Neville felt his eyes widen in shock. What in the name of the Morrigan? "You're cute though, so I'm prepared to forgive you. How are you?"

"We're fine, Luna," Neville said while Harry appeared to be struggling to catch up on things. "We're a bit more concerned about you at the moment though…you don't look well…"

"I'm full of Wrackspurts at the moment. It's toasty."

"Um…" Harry appeared to not know what to say to that blunt statement. Neville raised a finger to warn him against saying anything, but the Man-Who-Lived rushed in like the Gryffindor he was. "You kissed me, Luna."

"Yes, Harry," she replied smugly, "I did."

"Luna, you're scaring the man," Neville spoke up in warning. Harry was now looking thoroughly confused. Luna took one look at his face and giggled again. She grinned mercilessly as she took another drink from her cup of some clear liquid that Neville eyed suspiciously. Luna was clearly intoxicated, not that it took much for her to become so. By her seventh butterbeer, Luna was tipsy. But Neville had never seen her like this. "And you're inebriated."

"No, my dear, I'm drunk," Luna corrected happily. She laid her head down on Harry's shoulder and looked up at where Neville was slowly sliding into the booth across from them. "Three tablecloths, at least."

"Sheets," Harry put in, causing Luna to jerk her head up to get a better look at his face. "The phrase is three sheets to the wind. What I don't understand is how? You don't smell it…" Luna just gave Harry a smile before giving him another chaste kiss on the lips. This she followed by an affectionate rub of their noses.

"You're cute when you're being smart," she told him before waving at the bartender. She called out to the man behind the bar in a singsong voice. "Oho, Bartender! Another round for me and my friends!"

Neville turned just in time to see the burly man shake his head as he began to fill three glasses from something that Neville could not see. He turned back to see Luna placing kisses down Harry's neck while Harry looked frozen. Neville noticed that Harry's hands were both gripping the table as if it were a lifeline. His green eyes were half covered by his eyelids as the infamous defeater of Voldemort tried his damnedest not to react to the little blonde. Neville did not find this to be nearly as humorous as the birds from earlier. Frowning, he cleared his throat.

"What have you been drinking, Luna?"

"Wa-Water," Harry groaned out. Luna giggled against Harry's neck. Neville looked Harry curiously for a moment before he snatched Luna's almost empty cup from in front of her. He tested it like he had learned from Uncle Algie. It was water all right. He looked back at his friend.

"How—Oh, never mind. Not really important. Luna, what did you have before the water?"

"Alchemist's Whiskey," supplied the Ravenclaw before nuzzling the spot where Harry's neck met his shoulder. Harry mouthed the phrase 'save me' to Neville. Neville nearly lunged across the table in his attempt to grab Luna's shoulder. The girl shook her head in response and buried her face against the spot she had been nuzzling. Her slim arm came up to hold Harry still. Neville awkwardly patted her on the back.

"Where in the name of the Morrigan did you get Alchemist's Whiskey?" Neville demanded as gently as he could. At Harry's blank look, Neville explained. "It's illegal to sale in Britannia due to the fact that it is terribly addictive and can't be countered by a Sobering Potion. Water causes it to spread and multiply within the body." He added that bit just as the waitress delivered their drinks—all three of which were plain water. Neville's frown deepened. What exactly had Luna been trying to do? Kill herself?

"Daddy—" Luna had to swallow hard after that one word. She looked up at her questioner with eyes darkened with the same nameless grief he had seen far too often on survivors' faces. His heart clenched in warning. "Daddy gets a bottle for Yule every year from Uncle Crius, along with other spirits with unusual properties. Uncle Crius makes them, you see."

"Luna, where's Xenophilius now?"

Harry's question was softly spoken, but Luna flinched as if he was shouting. That clench in his heart was back. 'Oh, Luna…' Harry was apparently thinking along the same lines because he pulled Luna back against his side. When she buried her face in his shoulder, Harry rested his head against the top of hers. Her whole body quivered and shuddered for several long moments.

Finally, Luna pulled away and scooted further into the corner of the booth, wiping her eyes on the sleeves of her long sleeved tee shirt. She reached for her new glass. Neville was quick to grab her wrist to prevent the inevitable movement that would follow. She looked at him startled. With their eyes meeting like that, the Longbottom heir could see the dilated pupils that demonstrated Alchemist's Whiskey use. He shook his head, a slow sobering motion. She heaved a great sigh but pulled back without the beverage.

"He—" She drew a hitched breath. Her silvery eyes closed briefly and her lips moved without sound as she wrapped her arms around herself. She was too thin. Neville noted this and wondered when the last time she ate was. The last time anyone had heard from her or seen her was a good two weeks—had she even slept? There were purplish hollows under her eyes testifying at exhaustion. "He's gone. He left a letter. He went searching for me near the end of February. He…"

"He's the one who attacked the Ministry alone," Neville finished quietly. Luna nodded, anguish on her face. Once more, Harry looked confused. Neville continued in sober tones, any effects from the beers from earlier in their 'pub crawl' gone under the weight of the new knowledge about his fellow DA member. "On February twenty-sixth, there was an attack upon the Ministry by a lone attacker. He fought fiercely and decimated a good third of the DMLE forces before finally being taken down by Rabastan Lestrange with a Killing Curse."

"He just wanted to know where I was; that I was okay. Harry rescued me three weeks and five days after Daddy—after Daddy—" Luna made an odd choking sound before she scrubbed her face with her hands. She finished the thought weakly. "After the End."

"Luna, I'm sor—"

"Don't, Harry," Luna interrupted, all traces of dreaminess absent from her voice. "Just don't. It's not your fault. You can't save everyone."

"But I should have tried. I should've—"

"I'm with Luna on this one, Harry," Neville took his turn interrupting the Boy-Who-Broods-Too-Much. "There's no way you could have known where she was being held. It was a bloody feat that you managed to live when you did find her. You can't have saved everyone, and the 'should have, would have, could have's of it all will drive you barmy if you focus on them."

"I know I can't go back in time, but if I could—"

"Oh, you're a genius," Luna exclaimed. There was now a gleam in her eyes that Neville recognized from when she proposed that they break into the Headmaster's office. A cold chill ran down his spine as if a vampire had run his finger down the sensitive column. Luna grabbed a fistful of Harry's shirt and smashed their lips together. He heard a squeak that he would have to tease Harry about later before Luna deepened the kiss. The admittedly odd girl pulled back and faced them both with a grin. "You can tell Hermione that she's a lucky girl."

"Er…what just happened?"

"You came up the perfect solution. I rewarded the good behavior and complimented Hermione's taste in wizards."

"But she's with Ron?"

"Yeah, right," Luna replied skeptically. "He's an idiot who couldn't think his way out of a paper bag. He's also mean. She wouldn't be that silly."

"He's my best mate," Harry protested, "and she loves him."

"And I love the fairies in the glade near the Rookery. Doesn't mean that I want to date one."

"I…Neville, please stop laughing."

"I can't help it," Neville wheezed out between chuckles. "The look on your face is priceless!"

"Oh, dear, I think my Wrackspurts are spreading." Luna blinked owlishly at them. Suddenly, her nose scrunched up and her eyes crossed as if to look at it. "The fuzzy feeling between my eyes is getting heavy. I think—"

"Oh, no—Harry, catch her!"

Harry did not react in time to catch Luna before her head thudded against the table, disturbing the untouched glasses of water with the force. All three wobbled dangerously, but only one fell over, instantly dousing Harry's lap with its contents. Thankfully, Harry didn't react to that and was able to get a firm grasp on the now passed out witch before she slid under the table. Neville shook his head at Harry's quizzical gaze.

"Another side effect," he supplied. "Let's get her out of here. Your place or mine?"

"Yours," Harry said after a moment of thought. "Grimmauld Place is a bit crowded at the moment with Order members."

"Ah, yes, the infamous Order," Neville said with a wistful sigh. "Well, off to Thistlewood Manor then. Let's hope that Gran is asleep."

"What do we do if she's not?"

"Well, you can explain why I'm bringing a woman home at ten o'clock at night."

"What will you be doing while I'm facing down your grandmother?" Harry asked suspiciously as he struggled to get out of the booth without dropping Luna. Neville gave a smirk worthy of Draco Malfoy.

"I will be running for the hills, of course."

"How…Gryffindor of you, Nev."

"Why thank you."

=[=]=

Author's Note: Sorry about taking so long. Luna is rather uncooperative while intoxicated. Also I will shortly be starting another long story. My hope is to alternate weeks on updating them.


End file.
